I entered mid-life imagining that I was a paragon of virtue. A little farther down that road, I discovered . . . not so much. Have you been there? I’d put money on it. I realized, after stumbling over a more complete picture of my human potential, that I had an opportunity, and I decided to take it as best I could.

My turning point of destruction, which included a boatload of collateral damage, truly gave me a jump-start. I chose to stop defending myself and became willing to take a good look at my shit. Not that you have shit . . . but just sayin’. Some years later, I’m still discovering poop piles here and there. It seems that transformation is a process that can be ongoing.

The path of transformation begins at the foot of the rubble/poop pile. We need some sturdy tools to clear the debris at the head of that path and at pop-up piles of poop along the route. By the way, there is no map for that road, so we can’t really know where we’ll end up. But that’s ok. If we stick it out, we might find amazing things along the trail such as authenticity, compassion for self, a few unintended consequences, probably some new friends and some guaranteed new adventures.

This is really just a pep talk, in case you’ve broken your nose running into your humanity. If you have discovered some of those darker places within and have embraced their invitations for growth, you are doing just fine. Welcome to the club.